Young Sheldon Makes Missy’s Big Bang Theory Story Confusing & Tragic

Warning! SPOILERS for Young Sheldon season 5, episode 16.

Missy’s (Raegan Revord) The Big Bang Theory life was already tragic, and Young Sheldon just made her story even worse. Despite the CBS sitcom being named after Sheldon (Iain Armitage), it has also put a considerable focus on the rest of his family – that includes his twin sister, who fans previously met in the late 2000s on The Big Bang Theory season 1. 

Sheldon usually talked about having a sister on The Big Bang Theory, but viewers, as well as his friends, didn’t expect her to be very different from her brother. While Missy Cooper isn’t as intellectually-gifted in The Big Bang Theory as her twin, she excels in other things. She’s friendlier and more adept with her human side — something that Young Sheldon is leaning on. As Sheldon tries to work to advance science and technology, Missy is going through normal teenage experiences. Unfortunately, however, despite this, she ends up the least successful among the Cooper kids, at least in the traditional sense. 

Unlike Sheldon who wins the Nobel Prize in Physics and Georgie (Montana Jordan) who runs his own successful business, Missy works as a hostess at a restaurant as per The Big Bang Theory. It’s unclear why she ends up with that job since Young Sheldon season 5 reveals that she actually has a knack for entrepreneurship. After getting $100 from Meemaw (Annie Potts), Missy ends up starting a cotton candy business at school, and with some guidance from Young Sheldon‘s Georgie, she starts earning a profit. Unfortunately, she halted her operations after suffering an ant infestation. However, this establishes that she could’ve followed her oldest brother’s footsteps and become a businessman. It’s curious why she didn’t. If she did, she might have been more financially stable. 

After George (Lance Barber) dies, not much is known about Missy’s life. On The Big Bang Theory, Georgie described her as a “dumb teenager” that he needed to take care of when their dad died. This was because Mary was too caught up with her grief, while Sheldon went abroad for school that he was left to make sure that his family survived the unexpected tragedy. When Missy re-emerged on The Big Bang Theory 10 years later, before Sheldon and Amy’s (Mayim Bialik) wedding, it was revealed that she was expecting her second child, though she was also separating from her husband. It’s uncertain if she gets remarried after that, but adult Sheldon’s Young Sheldon narration confirmed that she ultimately had four kids and a happy life. While this was reassuring for audiences, it’s still a shame that she had so much potential that was never realized. 

With The Big Bang Theory finished, perhaps Young Sheldon can reveal more about Missy’s life through her brother’s voice-over from the future. If CBS wants to, they can even bring back Courtney Henggeler to make a brief cameo similar to how Mayim Bialik and Simon Helberg did. That way she can personally tell fans how her life turned out in the future. 

Young Sheldon airs every Thursday on CBS.

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